I'm a kindergarten teacher in a tough city and I specialize in working with severely traumatized children. I came to a charter school midyear and inherited a class that had gone through four teachers and was generally difficult to work with. I'm talking non stop fighting, screaming, running around. I turned that around in two months. I created my own art projects, behavior charts, games and songs. I came in early every day and fought through these kids cursing me out and slapping me in the face to earn their trust. Kept showing up kept being kind to them, kept celebrating their successes stayed calm no matter what . Got nothing but praise from our dean principal and families . Well then I found out I was being paid less than the other kindergarten teachers, who had less credentials than me . I spoke to our CEO and she swore she would write me up a new contract for the rest of the year and agreed it was unfair. Then when i reminded her she claimed we never had that conversation . then after delaying our contracts for next year later and later she handed me mine . it was an envelope with a slip of paper that says i don't have a position next year. . I walked out and took the next two days off. the principal and dean were totally blindsided and were under the impression I would 100% be rehired. they even wanted other teachers to observe me.
I don't think people understand how bad the state of teaching is. I love children i love what i do but I'm tired of fighting to even be paid 1/4th of what I'm worth. my school is so cheap they don't even have chairs or space in the breakroom for us to eat our lunch, many teachers have to eat in the hallways. I would bet all my measly paycheck I was canned for speaking up about being underpaid.